CBS Local — In the wake of the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history, tales of incredible courage are emerging. A Marine veteran is being hailed as a hero after he raced into harm’s way to get dozens of shooting victims to safety.

Taylor Winston was one of the thousands of people pinned down by gunfire from alleged shooter Stephen Paddock during a country music festival Sunday night in Las Vegas. According to reports, the 29-year-old veteran loaded over two dozen critically injured victims into a stolen truck and rushed them to nearby Desert Springs Hospital Medical Center — all before ambulances could reach the scene.

“I saw a field with a bunch of white trucks. I tested my luck to see if any of them had keys in it, first one we tried opening had keys sitting right there. I started looking for people to take to the hospital,” Winston said in an interview with “CBS This Morning.”

According to CBS’ Norah O’Donnell, Winston was with his girlfriend dancing near the concert stage when the attack began. “People started scattering and screaming and that’s when we knew something real was happening,” Winston said. “It was a mini war zone but we couldn’t fight back.”

The heroic veteran joined the Marines at 17 and has served two tours in Iraq. In 2011, he was honorably discharged as a Marine sergeant. Winston says he’s no hero and that he did what his training had prepared him to do.

“There was a lot of bravery and courageous people out there. I’m glad that I could call them my country folk.”